Aug. 22, 2013

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Melissa McMillin and her husband, Malakai Sausaman, own Compass Clothes, which offers handmade sandals and other goods that they have acquired from their backpacking trips around the world. When they are in Indianapolis, the couple often can be seen selling the shoes and goods at a booth on the Downtown Canal. / Kelly Wilkinson / The Star

Leather sandals like these are among the items for sale at their shop.

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Malakai Sausaman, 36, and Melissa McMillin, 25, are world travelers.

In four years, the husband and wife visited 13 countries in Europe and Asia and have traveled throughout the U.S. They use their journeys to find items — shoes, bracelets and toys — that they sell at their Downtown pop-up business, Compass Clothes.

Between them, they know five languages well enough to navigate restaurants and restrooms and handle other situations that arise.

“The act of finding things you need becomes an adventure,” Sausaman said of communicating in other languages.

They’re backpackers. They travel on the cheap. They don’t stay in five-star accommodations, and they don’t eat fancy meals, but for them, that’s part of the appeal.

How did two Irvington residents go from working in the restaurant business one day to becoming backpackers the next?

The couple was considering moving from the small apartment they had outgrown. But they didn’t want to go through the hassle. As they discussed selling their belongings and buying new things for the new space, they realized they would only fill up a larger space with more things and eventually be facing the same predicament.

“You work to pay for more space, and you’re not even there,” McMillin said. “We just kind if threw it out. ‘We can sell all our stuff and go backpacking.’ ”

And that’s what they did. They held an indoor rummage sale and raised about $3,000 — enough to buy two one-way tickets to Europe and spend three months there.

“We didn’t know how long the money would last; we were total novices,” Sausaman said.

Thanks to a website called Couch Surfing, the two found places to sleep and met people to share stories and travel tips with. It’s those stories and tips that led them to create a business, Compass Clothes, a kiosk located along the Downtown Canal.

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While on a trip in Asia, they found a woman selling handmade leather sandals in an alley. So intrigued by the shoes, the two learned how to make the sandals from a Thai rice farmer. They now sell them at their kiosk and other festivals and markets around the U.S. The macramé sandals sell for $30, and the leather sandals start at $80.

When they aren’t traveling, the two still call Irvington home, but now it’s a 400-square-foot space in the attic of a friend’s home. They work as banquet servers at the JW Marriott a few times a month and sell their goods along the canal when the weather is nice.

While they enjoy making and selling sandals, traveling is their passion.